Ontario and the National Housing Strategy

Overview

In 2017, the federal government announced Canada’s 10-year National Housing Strategy. The goal of this strategy is to make sure Canadians across the country can access housing that meets their needs and that they can afford.

In 2018, the federal and Ontario government signed a bilateral agreement under the National Housing Strategy to set out the terms of the partnership.

Under the NHS, there are three initiatives that are cost-matched and delivered by Ontario:

1. Canada-Ontario Community Housing Initiative (COCHI)
2. Ontario Priorities Housing Initiative (OPHI)
3. Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit (COHB)

Action plans under the NHS

As part of the National Housing Strategy (NHS) bilateral agreement, Ontario is required to develop an action plan every three years.

The action plans outline how Ontario will use NHS funding and provincial and municipal cost-matched funding to achieve targets and outcomes. The targets and outcomes are mutually agreed upon by the federal and provincial governments.

Ontario’s challenges and needs

Of all Canadian households in core housing need (a measure of housing affordability, suitability and adequacy), 44.1% are located in Ontario, the highest in the country. But Ontario only receives about 39% of funding from the federal government, creating a shortfall of about $480 million for homelessness and community housing programs.

Filling this federal funding gap would ensure service managers and Indigenous program administrators have certainty and funding stability for their housing and homelessness services.

The Province continues to advocate for municipalities and Ontarians to receive their fair share of funding from the federal government. These additional revenues would flow to municipal service providers to ensure Ontarians can get the housing they need.